Thursday, April 23, 2009

Day 7 Recap

Definitely one of the top days of the tournament so far.

Men- Austria vs. Colombia- 2-0 Austria. Austria continued to show some guts, beating Colombia 2-0. Though Austria won't make it out, they've played some very strong games in the tournament. They played great against France, and won the second half of their El Salvador game. In any other group, you'd have to consider Austria at least a contender to make it out. They've played very good so far.

Youth- Scotland vs. Germany- 7-2 Scotland. Scotland is running away with the youth competition, blowing out all their opponents so far.

Men- Poland vs. Scotland- 1-1 tie. This game was supposed to be an easy victory for Scotland. But that's the beauty of this tournament, anything can happen to any team. Germany's blowout of Poland seems a lot more significant now, and could mean the German team has figured out how to play as a team. Poland was not lucky to get the tie in this one, as they played very hard and strong. They had a chance to win on a close free kick at the very end, but couldn't put it away. Scotland had their chances as well, with the ball just unable to make it past the goal line, despite sitting on it a couple times. A very good game.

Men- France vs. El Salvador- 3-2 France. Coming off their victory over Ukraine, France needed this one to secure first place in the group. In the opening minutes, you could tell this would be a much different game than the Ukraine/France game. There were probably more shots in the first 10 minutes than the entire Ukraine/France game. El Salvador went up early, but France answered right back. The chances for both teams went back and forth, with neither team dominating the game. Even though neither team dominated, it always seemed like France would win. Their chances were closer and more powerful, while El Salvador had to abandon its strikers and shoot from far outside. France is now through to the playoffs in the first place, playing second place in Group B(whoever that may be). In any case, France is clearly a top contender, and look to be making their way to the final. El Salvador will be taking on Ukraine for second place Group D on Saturday, with the winner(barring some crazy result) likely playing Laos in the first round of the playoffs. That quarterfinal game will be the same quality as the final.